Welcome! We at Sterling College are very excited about Is Local Enough? The Institute is shaping up to be a rich and diverse experience bringing together activists, artists, teachers, students, and community members for four days from June 17-20, 2010.
This blog will highlight the many new elements we are excited about in this year's (third annual!) program. Check back often to see what's new, discuss topics in more detail, and connect with this unique community.

Friday, April 9, 2010

We're very excited to announce that registration is now open for this year's Rural Heritage Institute: Is Local Enough? Promises and Limits of Local Action from June 18-20 at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont.

Are there limits to local thinking?

What is the relationship between rural and local?

What is the role of local knowledge in an age of globalization?

Join us at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont from June 18th - 20th for Is Local Enough? Promises and Limits of Local Action to explore these questions as well as the developing dialogue between local and global concerns as it applies to economy, agri culture, history, food, culture and rural identity.

Part of the third annual Rural Heritage Institute, Is Local Enough?, will include a diverse range of workshops, presentations and fea tured events. Located at the heart of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, the Institute capitalizes on the model of community and experiential learning at the center of the Sterling College curriculum and apparent throughout the surrounding communities.

Featured Presentations

Film showing and discussion Under the Cloak of Darkness: Vermont’s Migrant Mexican Farm Workers with Chris Urban and Erin Shea

A Vision for Healthy Food Culture and Sustainable Farming in New England – Brian Donahue (author of American Georgics: Readings in American Agrarianism; The Great Meadow: Farmers and the Land in Colonial Concord; Reclaiming the Commons: Community Farms and Forests in a New England Town) and Mateo Kehler, owner of Jasper Hill Farm and The Cellars at Jasper Hill.

Are there limits to local thinking? What is the relationship between rural and local? What is the role of local knowledge in an age of globalization? How are rural regions across the world implicated in global issues?

Panel, workshop, presentation, and roundtable proposals are solicited for Is Local Enough? Promises and Limits of Local Action from June 17th-20th at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont. Part of Sterling's annual Rural Heritage Institute, this event will explore the developing dialogue between local and global concerns as it applies to economy, agriculture, history, food, culture, and rural identity.

Located at the heart of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, Is Local Enough? capitalizes on the model of community and experiential learning at the center of the Sterling College curriculum and apparent throughout the surrounding communities.

Each year, The Rural Heritage Institute draws participants who are passionate about solidifying the connections among community, academic scholarship, and meaningful action in the field. The intimate atmosphere of the Institute (between 50-75 participants) enables productive conversations among a broad range of practitioners, scholars, community members, and under/graduate students who share an interest in exploring the intersections of local, regional, and global issues – particularly as manifested in the rural Northeast.

Is Local Enough? Promises and Limits of Local Action will be filled with four days of workshops, field sessions, seminar panels, roundtables, presentations, featured speakers, and hands-on experiences.

You are invited to submit proposals for this immersive and interdisciplinary Institute in areas including (but not limited to):